Once faced with such a situation, you could always take legal steps to protect yourself. The best way to protect yourself would be to remain aware and exercise caution.
First, you must never share personal details with anyone on social media or any random unknown person. You could always opt for simple techniques, such as refraining from clicking unknown web links, ensuring strong passwords, and changing passwords regularly. Senior citizens should also be aware that cybercrimes are punishable under the IT Act of India, and timely reporting is crucial.
According to experts, the option available to the borrowers is to lodge an FIR against such operators. "In most cases, the operators are not registered with the RBI as lenders and are therefore illegal. Moreover, the interest rates being charged are exorbitant and are therefore not recoverable in the usual course of things. However, to recover money from the operators, the consumers will have to pursue a long and arduous journey through civil or consumer courts. Through criminal proceedings, the operators may be brought to book, but the consumer may not necessarily be able to recover the proceeds," says Abhishek Tripathi, managing partner, Sarthak Advocates & Solicitors.
"RBI has also advised the borrowers to check if the platform which has lent is registered with the RBI, and if not, the same should be brought to the notice of the RBI," adds Tripathi.
"When such online frauds happen, the first and foremost point is to question the individuals getting duped. They should be reasonable and practical about such transactions and know what they are getting into. They need to be very cautious and alert. They cannot just give away their bank details and OTP to any random unknown person. Second, the moment it happens, they should report it to the cybercrime cell and file an FIR. If need be, they need to report a specific FIR against people involved in a fraud," says Abhishek Rastogi, partner, Khaitan and Co, a corporate law firm.